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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The news media only cares about violence and extremism, no matter where it comes from. Oh, and airplane crashes. This week we have Baltimore's peaceful demonstrations and Baltimore's thuggish violence. Guess which got TV coverage? A Baltimore college student said it brilliantly:

Monday, April 20, 2015

Founded in the 19th century by a quack, Mary Baker Eddy, her book about faith healing spurred a movement that continues to kill people today. Although members keep dying, they still have 400,000 members.

They publish the well-regarded Christian Science Monitor. Although it's a good newspaper, it is dangerous in the sense of lending credibility to the religion. They also have reading rooms. There used to be one in the neighborhood where I grew up. I never went there, but they were near the public library, which made me think it was like a library but with religious stuff. How could people who encourage reading be bad?

They don't believe in any medical intervention of any kind. No eyeglasses, dental work, vaccinations, anti-biotics or pre-natal doctor visits. Like other faith-healing cults they let themselves and their children die from curable conditions. There's no actual science in Christian science. It's all mumbo jumbo -- even worse than faith healing, actually.

But what makes them particularly dangerous is that they are behind the ubiquitous "religious exemption" laws around the U.S. that have allowed the other faith healing nutters to kill children. These laws are well entrenched and hurting people all over the country and probably the rest of the world as well. Fortunately, deaths in other cults have brought attention to the issue of religious exemptions, and this attention may spell the end of it. Until then, they are on my list.

It may seem like a small thing compared to the evils of IFB, but in my book anything that harms & kills children rises to the top.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

The Pentecostal movement derives from the Holiness movement of the 19th century. This movement stresses not just salvation by the proxy (temporary) death of Jesus, but by behavior during life. Of course, the Catholic Church stressed acting right as well, but Protestantism muddied the issue by bringing back adult baptism to symbolize being saved. (As an aside, if Jesus was perfect and was God, why did he need to be baptized? Just wondering....)

Pentecostalism dates to the Azusa Street (California) revival of 1906-1915, making it one of the younger protestant denominations. Being possessed by the Holy Spirit is the main distinction for Pentecostals and the wider designation "Charismatic." People work themselves up to the point of fainting (being "slain in the spirit"), speak in tongues, and experience miraculous "healing."

Pentecostals take the Bible literally, including passages about spiritual "gifts." Talking in tongues, is the most famous, and supposedly first happened on the day of the Pentecost. In the Bible, Jesus's followers began speaking in foreign languages, which enabled them to spread the word throughout the diverse Roman Empire. This would be a handy skill indeed. But current Pentecostals don't speak in actual languages. Otherwise known as glossolalia, they let go of self-control, letting the "spirit" control them. They babble some gibberish that the Spirit speaks through them, and they claim it is a prayer in another language. So it doesn't matter to them if it sounds like nonsense. It doesn't even matter to them that they don't know what they're saying in their gibberish language.

Another "gift" is the ability to interpret this gibberish. This is of course a very handy gift if you want to get your sister-in-law kicked out of the congregation. Who would dispute the Holy Ghost's interpretation? Apparently, it's not as clear-cut when more than one person present has this gift. Despite having the Holy Ghost on their side, they often disagree on their interpretation.

There are many youtube videos of the "praise break," a musical extravaganza with dancing at the altar and in the aisles. From what I've seen on youtube, the Holy Spirit is a really bad dancer, so the congregants are only too happy to place the blame on old the H.S. If a person has a "gift" the spirit may take over their body to the point that they fall down in what looks like an epileptic fit from being "slain by the spirit." There are deacons on hand who are immune to the music, at least for the day, who can catch them when they fall... usually.

Biblical literalism, fake epileptic seizures, and nonsense syllables are weird but quaint features of Pentecostalism. If they stopped with that, they wouldn't make my list, but they go waaaaay beyond what other religious fundamentalists do.

Direct access to the Holy Spirit by anyone is what makes this theology so dangerous. Anyone who has the "spirit" can become a pastor. God can tell a pastor or congregant almost anything, and who's to argue?

Snake Handling
The result of their careless attitude toward education is the snake-handling cult of Appalachia. This comes from a discredited passage in the Gospel of Mark about "signs" of the Holy Spirit: "they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them" This passage dates from a late manuscript, added by a sociopathic scribe to see if his overseer was paying attention (my best guess as to how the passage got added) The pastor who spread this noxious practice was himself illiterate. If he could have read scholarly books about theology, he might have learned that the King James Bible is not a reliable translation (in the sense of accurately translating the Greek originals), or that the snake-handling passage was a fraud. Predictably, he died from a snake bite, as many subsequent snake handlers have. The most recent victim was Jamie Coots, who had appeared in a reality show about snake handlers. He didn't qualify for a Darwin Award, however, because he has a son, who is now handling snakes himself (and has been bitten)

If injured during snake handling or other death-defying feats, they will refuse treatment because they believe in spiritual healing. If they only refused treatment for themselves I would consider them quaint, but suicidal. Unfortunately their children suffer because of this. That alone earns them a place on this list.

Child Abuse Disguised as Religion

Like Independent Fundamentalist Baptists, each congregation makes up its own rules and pastors have absolute authority. In Pentecostalism, even children can be preachers. They think this is great, but it makes you wonder just how thoughtful the adult pastors are if children can put on just as good a show. In most denominations, children are not of age to be full members until about 13, i.e. puberty. In Pentecostalism, the spirit takes over all ages equally. Turning a child into a pastor has to be bad for the child's development. Unlike a child actor or singer, a child pastor has enormous pressure to deliver God's word. This can create a narcissism in the child if he believes in this stuff, but can create enormous conflicted feelings if he ever grows to realize what nonsense it is.

Exorcism
Unfortunately, Satan can take over the bodies of people just as God can, and he doesn't let go readily. Pentecostals (and charismatics) are soldiers in "Spiritual Warfare" against Satan. They practice "deliverance," otherwise known as exorcism, to drive away the evil spirits that make people act wrong (by their standards).

Gays who have the misfortune to have been born into a Pentecostal family may be tempted to sign up for exorcism to rid themselves of the evil spirit that makes them think gay thoughts. (Interesting but disturbing blog posts here and here) Any church that equates homosexuality with evil spirit possession is dangerous to gays personally and to society generally.

Fortunately, it may be that public exorcisms may be merely shows put on to scare the faithful, if this hilarious video is typical:

Accusations of WitchcraftPentecostalism experienced a parallel growth in Africa over the past 100 years. One sad result is that people are being killed or tortured as witches, especially in Nigeria. While we worry about the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, we should also worry about the lives of children who are Christians remaining at home there. Babies, young children, and albinos can be accused of witchcraft and "exorcised" for a hefty fee. Remember that Pentecostals basically answer to nobody, theologically, so it's the one denomination most ripe for con men. The people are gullible and the leaders have nobody looking over their shoulders. It's a recipe for disaster, as The Guardian documented in 2007.Faith Healing Child Medical Neglect

You may have heard of the Shaibles, a Pennsylvania couple who were on probation for the neglect death of one child when they allowed another to die. Oops, when God took the child. They belong to the First Century Gospel Church, which believes in faith-healing only. The name of the church suggests Pentecostalism, which believes itself to be closer to original Christianity than other denominations.

Some of the most famous crooks in the faith-healing business have profited from Pentecostal zeal: Benny Hinn and Peter Popoff, who have been repeatedly debunked by skeptics. More recently, the Followers of Christ, a Pentecostal offshoot, have been in the news for numerous child deaths in Oregon (which enacted laws to enable prosecution of parents) and Idaho.

C.H.I.L.D., or Children's Health Is a Legal Duty, documents the child deaths due to religiously inspired neglect. Sadly, in many states there is a religious exemption for medical care (thanks to politically active Christian Scientists).

Prosperity Theology
Many of the proponents of prosperity theology are "non-denominational" but if you examine their beliefs, they are in either the Pentecostal or IFB traditions. The main idea is the same as faith healing - prayer alone should be sufficient for success if one is right with God. Letting a bit of gold cross the palm of the healer or pastor isn't theologically necessary but it couldn't hurt, right? And when you give to the Church you get back tenfold, if you are right with God, of course. If people could really afford to believe that faith could cure their finances, it would be a quaint practice. like playing the lotto on payday. But unlike the lotto, there's no proof that it works except for the pastor who gets extremely wealthy.

Ex-Pentecostals
Many Christians consider Pentecostalism unbiblical and cultish, so ex-Pentecostals are welcome to the fold when they decide Pentecostalism is for the birds. But because of the extreme rigidity of Pentecostal fundamentalism, once there is a crack in the wall around their beliefs, it could all come falling down. This happened to Jerry DeWitt, the first ex-pastor to come out after participation in the Clergy Project. He now "preaches" at secular gatherings. He's a very talented speaker.

Some Famous and Infamous Pentecostals (including spin-offs & Charismatics)

Thursday, April 16, 2015

One of the frequent complaints about "New Atheism" is that the movement is too harsh toward religion. The subtitle for Christopher Hitchens book, God is Not Great is "How Religion Poisons Everything." I think using the word "everything" is a bit of a stretch. There are certainly some things that religion doesn't touch. Wallpaper, for one. You can go to a wallpaper store and have your choice of designs, and religion hasn't poisoned many of them at all.

There's a dichotomy between "good" Christianity and "bad" Christianity, a.k.a. the "they're not true Christians" according to the nicer Christians. It's clear that some of the "bad" Christians seem to belong to the same few denominations.

What is a "bad" Christian? In my view it's someone, or a group of someones, who use religion to justify hurting other people. When they hurt their own children, that multiplies my disgust.

Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church (IFB)
These are the most extreme of the Baptists. They have their own colleges, (including Bob Jones "University") but because they are independent, a pastor can make up his or her own interpretation of scripture. Bruce Gerenscer, now an atheist blogger, used to be an IFB pastor. (See his guide to IFB-speak and his personal story)

I started with the IFB movement because it's timely: this Arizona pastor argued that gay men should be stoned to death, and went on a rant against a fellow IFB pastor who disagreed with him. If you aren't willing to kill gays, you are weak in his opinion. How long until his congregation starts killing people? (or one like him) How many other IFB pastors are preaching the same doctrine?

The IFB pastors have absolute theological power over their congregations, and they only answer to Gawd. Even though there are IFB colleges, there is no theological structure to rein in the pastors. The ministry often passes from father to son, risking a cult of personality and dynasty. There is also a culture of secrecy, like the Roman Catholic priesthood. Pastors find new jobs easily because their sex crimes are kept covered up.

Between the pastor's divine inspiration, the cult of personality, and the extremism of the theology, they are the one Protestant denomination to watch. Some megachurches are IFB, making their cultish influence even more sinister.

Bill Gothard, best known as a leader of the homeschooling movement... at least until his organization suffered financially and he was outed as a sexual predator. Although never married, he is an expert in marriage and his teachings form part of the Duggar family "values." This "quiverfull" movement victimized Andrea Yates

They are also physically abusive to children:
Not far from Jack Schaap's church, Fairhaven Baptist Academy in Indiana uses physical abuse to humiliate children: A CNN exposé on this school didn't seem to affect the pastor. He still works at the church and he is the chancellor of the associated (unaccredited) college.

There are many blogs and websites run by ex-members, both Christian & atheist. This site has a list of articles for further reading, if you have the stomach for it.

...so I vote them as the #1 most dangerous denomination because of their actual abuses and the potential for much much worse. Let's hope they don't start stoning gays to death, but could you put it past them?

4/20/2015 edited to add: Franklin Graham, son of IFB pastor Billy Graham, has announced what basically amounts to an attempt to create a theocracy:

“America is in trouble. At 62 years of age, I’ve lived long enough to learn that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can turn this country around; no political party or politician is the answer. The only hope for this country is Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ. Next year I am planning to travel to all 50 states to conduct prayer rallies—we are calling this the Decision America Tour. I want to challenge Christians to boldly live out their faith and to pray for our nation and its leaders. I want to encourage Christians to get out and vote, and to cast their ballots for candidates who uphold biblical principles. I want to strongly urge Christians to run for public office at every level—local, state, and federal. We will not be endorsing any political candidates, but I will be proclaiming the truth of God’s Gospel in every state. More details will come later. I hope you will start praying with us now.”